changing thermal paste on acer 5741g

[2spooky]

I bought this laptop long time ago , in june 2011 and I've never changed the paste , only used the vacuum on the cooler to clean it from time to time from dust , these are the temps I get now, 79C in flash browser games and while browsing temps are 45-55C at 21C ambient temp. That's the cpu temp , the gpu is much lower , 32-max 50C.

I don't use this laptop for games, I have a desktop for that , I'm using it only for browsing and stuff. I've seen a video how to disassemble this entire laptop model acer aspire 5741g and it looks scary, too many things to unscrew and remove and you have to be careful.

It lasted 5 years without any problems and it still working pretty good for browsing. My question is , should I risk it and open it to change the paste or leave it like this?

 

[Jester Maroc]

79c is still within the designed parameters of the laptop/CPU.

I would change it just because I hate it when my stuff run that hot, but those temps should not break the laptop (CPU/GPU). But since you are uncomfortable opening the laptop (and it is daunting I agree), you will be fine continuing as it is right now.

However, if the temps approach the 90's I would definitely consider changing the paste.

EDIT: One danger of those high temps in these consumer laptops is the heat slowly disintegrating the plastic chassis which can cause it to flex. This can damage the CPU/GPU as the screws holding the cooler in place can shift/break out (happens rarely but I have fixed laptops where this has happened).

 

[HEXiT]

the paste it can go gritty over time especially if the cpu is constantly running hot and in a dusty environment.
but as the lappy is 5+years old and still working im guessing you have kept it reasonably dust free so the paste should still be ok...

as it seems a bit scary to you i wouldnt bother touching the innards. so for now blast some compressed air into the vents and see if you have a dust build up. cleaning may be all thats required.

 

[2spooky]

Thanks for the answers , I won't open it then and hope it will last a few more years , I'm using it only for browsing when I'm not home.

 

[2spooky]

update: After almost 3 years , today , I was bored and careless enough (If I would break it) to change the thermal paste on the gpu and cpu on my 5741G , wasn't that hard actually but I had to be very careful when removing the many tiny cables to be able to remove the top cover. I succeeded and now temperatures have gone down by 10-15C , also to my amazement I barely found a bit of dust around the fan but almost none.

This is the video I've used a tutorial even though on the 5741G some screws and cables are a bit different but not by much.

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dyiBj19Eyb4&t=926s